Big cybersecurity vendors join to combat spyware
The big hitters in the cybersecurity industry are teaming up to fight spyware, but small spyware companies are worried
Cybersecurity vendors are teaming up to fight spyware. These companies have already been in the habit of sharing virus samples, and are now aiming to apply similar procedures to spyware, covering a generic range from malicious keyloggers to controversial adware. McAfee, Symantec, Trend Micro, ISCA Labs, and Thompson Cyber Security Lab are leading the effort to come up with shared methodologies to share and define spyware samples. Common naming structures will make it easier for customers of anti-spyware products to get a clearer understanding of the protection the products provide. Spyware presents obstacles such as the fact that adware sometimes is packed with legal end-user licensing agreements (EULAs) that may prohibit code-sharing.
This collaborative effort on spyware stands in contrast to the more competitive climate of the anti-virus market. One reason is that, typically, running more than one anti-virus program on a single desktop would lead to technical problems and crashes, so customers buy only one anti-virus program. Even with regard to spyware not everyone is eager to collaborate: Smaller anti-spyware vendors, especially firms which have less to do with anti-virus, have been reluctant in the past to share their samples and analysis techniques with McAfee and Symantec.
The new vendor group will meet in Washington, D.C. on 10 February, a day after the Anti-Spyware Coalition meeting there.
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